Rating History: Revenge
REVENGE (ABC) Revenge premiered in one of ABC's "death slots" (the Wednesday 10:00 hour) so it was a nice surprise to see it manage a solid 3.3 on premiere night. Granted, it had a 6.1 Modern Family lead-in that night, but it leveled off in the high 2's for the majority of the fall with a much smaller regular lead-in, and even cracked a 3.0 during November sweeps. The second half of its season just wasn't the same, as it never got higher than a 2.5 and fell all the way to a 2.0 for its penultimate episode, but the finale boost to a 2.4 encouraged ABC to give it another season in one of the most high-profile slots on television (Sunday 9:00). Its 2.46 average marked the best numbers ABC pulled in that slot since Lost, so overall it was a promising solid season. It began its second season in an encouraging way, premiering to a 3.2, which was only a tenth below its series opener/high despite a much lower lead-in than it had the previous year (3.9 for Once Upon a Time). It maintained high 2's until about November, where it dropped off into the low 2's and went all the way down to a 2.2 on 11/25/12; it was doing noticeably worse than the much older Desperate Housewives had done the year before, so you could say ABC was disappointed at this point, especially considering the heavy promotion. If things weren't bad enough, Revenge proved vulnerable to the tough Sunday event season. It began 2013 at an underwhelming, but respectable 2.4, but within three weeks had dipped all the way down to a troubling 1.4 against the Grammy Awards on CBS. After event season had concluded, it looked like a recovery was forthcoming, as Revenge perked up to a 1.8 and then an impressive 2.0, but unfortunately for ABC, the damage could not be undone. It got back down to a 1.5 against light competition on 3/31/13, and remained in the 1's for the rest of the spring; even the 2-hour finale failed to impress – it actually dropped week-to-week! Overall, it was definitely one of the most disappointing television seasons in history; from its underwhelming fall season, to its awful event season numbers, and (most importantly) to its lack of recovery. Instead of getting Revenge as far away as possible from Sunday night, ABC decided to give it another shot in the same position. Season three started respectably, premiering to a 2.2, growing to a very impressive 2.7, and only falling sub-2.0 once during the fall. But then, event season rolled around again, and unfortunately for Revenge, almost every event was up year-to-year at very strong levels. It began 2014 at a 2.1, and by the next week had immediately fallen to a 1.5 against the AFC Championship. As the events got stronger and more female-skewing, Revenge went lower. The worst it did was an absolutely awful 0.9 against the record-high Golden Globe Awards in early February. It probably would've been cancelled had it not been for its wildly impressive spring. During a brief hiatus at the end of event season, ABC promoted it like crazy during every Grey's Anatomy episode. The strategy worked, as it returned to a 1.5 in March, and in only three weeks had climbed all the way up to a stellar 2.9. The growth only continued from there; it stayed north of 3.0 all through April (3.0 -> 3.1 -> 3.2 -> series high 3.4), climbed to a 3.7 for penultimate week, and surged to a whooping 5.0 for its finale. Revenge was undeniably the hottest non-Thursday show in spring 2014. After the strong finish, ABC unquestionably let Revenge keep its slot. Despite lots of expectations that it was about to break out into a Thursday-sized megahit, Revenge premiered its fourth season to a very underwhelming 1.6 (this was especially bad because its Once Upon a Time lead-in pulled a monster 7.0 that evening), and remained sub-2.0 after that (it actually went as low as 1.2). Then we were reminded why ABC is the number one network. They had a very puzzling Thursday situation: Nashville was doing wonderfully at 8:00, and newbie Wisteria Lane was dominating the night at 10:00, but Last Resort ''was going low at 9:00. Rather than plugging in a new show at 9:00 like many speculated, ABC pushed ''Wisteria Lane down to 9:00, and moved Revenge into the Thursday 10:00 slot. The results were spectacular, as Revenge shot all the way up to a 12.7 for its first post-''Wisteria Lane'' outing, and that was only the beginning. The "Guilty Pleasure Thursday" block (as ABC billed it), exploded during February sweeps, consistently rating in the 30's and 40's. Revenge cooled off a bit after that, sinking to a 6.2, but once ABC announced it would be the final season for the aforementioned series, Revenge surged and was squarely beating its Wisteria Lane lead-in for top Thurday honors. The 2-hour finale managed an unearthly 82.8, making it the top television telecast of the season. It ended its run as one of the top shows on television, and was almost at powerhouse level. Adults 18-49 info by season: